LEAGUE UPDATES – EARLY MAY 2009

by Gavin Smith

After three hugely successful meets with 70 or more riders each evening, it is now time to see how the overall leagues are going. Of course, all the detail is available to see in Dave Gerrey’s league tables, but here is a short analysis of the situation.

“A” league riders get an English lesson

Despite missing the latest meet (no. 3), Felix English leads the A league with an impressive total of 46 points. He is followed by Lee Povey on 33, then Lee’s team-mate Mark Burgess on 20. Charlie Sayer, Bryan Taylor and Charlie Heffernan round off the top six. However, new arrival Jean Spies caused a stir on 6 May with some lively riding and great results. Jean is the reigning South Africa national champion in keirin and Olympic sprint and his continued presence at Preston Park will liven things up no end.

Handy Andy heading for the “B” league title

Who on earth can stop Andy Parle taking the B league? Following a rule-change this season which means that 5 event wins will automatically bring victory in the B league and promotion to the As, he is already 60% there with three fine victories. Mark Mergler has one win and 18 points, while Anthony Rogers also has one win but with “only” 11 points. Richard Bailey, Ben Miller, Bruce English and John Powell are next in line. Even next Wednesday, we could see Andy crowned B league champ. However, if the other competitors react to the danger, there might just be a strong challenge to his domination. For this to happen, we shall need to see a little bit of teamwork between Andy’s rivals. Over to you, lads!

Lively youths

The youths’ racing has been as interesting as ever. Elliot Tabraham-Dowers has taken control of the U16 category, while Jack Oliver-Blaney and Milo Burdeau are locked in a tight battle for second. A glance at the U14 table shows Ashley Dennis in charge, but behind him we have no fewer than four extremely strong girls. In order, they are Emily Barnes, Amy Jacobs, Sara Gent and Kim English. However, just 10 points separate this quick quartet. Amy Barnes leads Spencer Thomas by a slender 2 points in the U12s, followed by Megan Lewis and Harris Redgrove. The top four U10s are Harrey Stacey, Cory Anderson, Douglas McCauley and Thomas Burnett. Evelyn Parle is well ahead in the U8s, with Dominic Kazlauskas and Michael Wickens tying for second at the moment and 5-year-old Oscar Denman-Gould fourth.

Upcoming championships

Meet no. 5 on 20 May sees the first Preston Park title-race evening in the form of the scratch championships, with longer races than usual for the various categories (details in the programme booklet and on the website). It will be noted that championship races carry double points and there are medals for the top three in the seniors and in each youth age-group, which will be presented at the AGM in October (though a mini prize presentation will also take place at the track on the evening itself of course).

“Preston Park News” out on 27 May

The first of three 2009 issues of our own league newsletter comes out on 27 May. It will include loads of interesting stuff, including reports on the scratch championships, racing tips, some Preston Park history and details of one of our top riders. If you’d like to write something for our own fanzine, you can send it in via the website. Deadline 20 May, please.